Comments on: Friendship 2.0 and Beyond

By: Scott Gould

Scott Gould — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:51:47 +0000

Good points – and yes – savvy marketing does use the language to leverage participation.

Good point especially on ” Imagine a whole generation coming through, believing that to become a friend, all you do is click and opt-in.”

This is the key point – if friendship is now opt-in, then let us make a distinction between these valuable, deep connections that we share with people – like you, me, Martin, etc

Given that Social Media enables us to interact in this amazing away, there is little collaboration over projects. This is what I want to up the level on!

By: Scott Gould

Scott Gould — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:49:09 +0000

Gen Y do accept people as friends even if they don't know them – especially when they see status attached to numbers. But it's also in the Twitter language too – the idea of following and followers and friends when you both follow people. I think what I'm getting at is beyond the language though, and more at how shallow online relationships are. It's fine if they are shallow, but ppl seem to overestimate how deep they are. And secondly, it means we miss having deep relationships.

By: Robin Dickinson

Robin Dickinson — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:18:55 +0000

It's great to continue this conversation over here, Scott. You've taken it to the next level. These are important distinctions you raise - especially in terms of language.

FRIEND OR FAUX?

As technology changes rapidly and behaviors with it, language has been left behind, and is constantly struggling to catch up. So we end up with a mash of new ways, methods & ideas trying to retro-fit a dated lexicon.

'Faux friend' is an excellent synonym for acquaintance. It's almost a challenge - "Are you a friend or faux-(friend)? Obviously, the fact that one connects doesn't mean 'instant friendship'.

Using the term 'friend' to describe 'connection' is just savvy marketing. It's a way of building motivation *into* the product experience.

For example, I would be much more motivated to engage in a product that helped me accrue and trophy-display my tally of friends, than I would 'acquaintances'.

And when a brand like Facebook, for example, gets so big, we end up with a kind of word-jacking - where now, you write a post that points out the sheer folly of accumulating 1000s of 'friends'. Obvious at one level, and yet scary at another. Imagine a whole generation coming through, believing that to become a friend, all you do is click and opt-in.

More doors opening here, Scott.

Wish I was coming to Like-Minds. Soon.

Shine on, Robin

By: Martin Howitt

Martin Howitt — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:17:16 +0000

The idea of a "friend" on a social networking site is a very Gen Y thing, I think. As a gen X person, the first time someone added me as a "friend" on facebook I asked myself "do I know this person?". Since the answer was no, I didn't accept their friend request.

So I'm curious. Why did you accept them as a friend if you didn't know them?

(Another great post BTW, they just keep on coming!)